Outsole removing machine



May 14, 1935. A. A. L AwsoN 2,000,963

OUTSOLE REMOVING MACHINE Filed De@ 5, 1952 Q W01) e. l www Patented May14, 1935 oU'rsoLE nEMovING MACHINE v Axel AQ Lawson, Beverly, Mass.,assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., acorporationof New Jersey f Application December 5, 1932, serial No.645,716

22 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for repairing shoes and is hereinillustrated `as embodied in a machine for removing wornsoles from shoes.

The removal o'f a worn sole from a shoe which is to be resoled requiresthebreaking ofthe attachment between the sole and the `upper' which,along the margin of the forepart and'shank, commonly consists ofstitching or an adhesive such, for example, as a pyroxylin cement.

Heretofore the sole removing operation has ordinarily been performedeither by passing a hand knife about the shoe, its point having beeninserted betweenY the sole and the adjacent portion of the shoe bottom,or by bodily tearing the sole and the upper away from each other.However, in practising either of the above methods upon a shoe the soleof which is secured to the upper by means of one of the relatively hardadhesives rused for sole attaching, the upper of the shoe is endangered,since, owing to the relative weakness of the upper material as comparedwith the sole material and the hardness and toughness of the adhesiveitself, there is danger that the cleavage Will occur in the uppermaterial. Forexarnpla a knife as employedin the first method mentionedabove will tend to veer away from the sole material which has absorbedthe adhesive as Well as from the thin layer of adhesive between the soleand the upper, cutting and injuring the upper leather; and when theupper and sole are torn from each other it is probable that parts of theshoe upper will stick to the sole and hence be removedfrom the shoe withthe sole. Ihus the shoe upper is sometimes so weakened as to make theattachment of a new sole impractical.

Theabove difficulties have been overcome by the present invention, animportant object `of which is to provide an improved machine forseparating the sole from the upper of ashoe as the marginal portion ofthe shoe bottom is presented progressively thereto, characterized by asevering action which is excluded from the upper.

In accordance with this object, one feature of the invention consists,in combination with'guiding means adapted to be inserted between a soleand the adjacent portion of the bottom of a shoe, ofA means forseparating the sole fromthe upper having a cuttingedge which liessubstantially in a surface arranged to'engage the side of the soleadjacent to thej shoe bottom and extending in the direction L of y thefeed movement.- The cutting edge of this separating means is preferablyat the intersection of its sole engaging side and another surfaceadjacent tothe shoe bottom and extending at an angle to the direction offeed, the latter (c1. lz-i) surface constituting a beveled surface whichtends to direct the cutting action of the separating means toward thesole rather than toward the upper.

i The separating means is illustrated herein as a knife which has anoscillating cutting movement substantially normal to the sole edgesurface. Since only the marginalportion of a shoe bottom need beoperated upon to effect the separation of the sole from the upper in theabove described manner, the knife is required to operate only on thatportion of the shoe. Therefore, another feature of the invention isconstituted by means for limiting the eld of action of the knife inwardly of the shoe from its sole edge whereby the `penetration of theknife between the sole and the upper extends-no farther than isnecessary to, operate completely upon the attachment theren between. Tothis end the above-mentioned guiding means, herein illustrated as aplate, carries an abutment adapted to engage the edge of the sole of .ashoe presented to the machine and thus to prevent the plate and knifeLfrom being inserted to an excessive depth between the sole andattaching portion of the shoe. f

The progressive presentation of the marginal portionof the shoe bottomto the above-described instrumentalities is facilitated in theillustrated machine by means cooperating with the guiding plate toimpart a feed movement to the shoe by engagement with the sole. Thismeans, as herein illustrated, is constitutedby a feed wheel havingasubstantially frusto-conical surface and which is mounted so asyieldingly to engage the tread surfacev of the sole and to urge theopposite or attaching surface of the sole against the surface of theguiding plate'which includes the cutting edge of the knife, thuspromoting the desired action `of the knife as described above.

Y While the machine in which the invention is embodied is illustratedherein as operating upon a shoe the sole of which is attached to theupper by means of an adhesive, it is apparent that the machine is alsowell adapted for operating upon shoes the soles of which are attached bymeans of stitching.

These and other featuresof the invention will now be `described withreference to the accompanying drawing and will be pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawing,

' Fig. l is a side elevation of an illustrative machine embodying lthepresent invention and includes a sectional view of a shoe being operatedupon by the machine;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine, some parts of the framebeing shown in section and others being broken away; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View along the line III-III of Fig. l.

The illustrated machine comprises a pedestal II! from the upper part ofwhich extends a forwardly extending arm I2, uprights I4 connected attheir upper ends by a web I6, and also rearwardly extending arms I8. Aguiding plate 20 is secured by means of screws 22 to the forward end ofthe arm I2 and is disposed substantially in a vertical position. Theoperative end of the guiding plate 26 tapers both widthwise andheightwise to a point at its lower extremity and is thus adapted to beinserted between the sole and adjacent attaching portion of a shoe to beoperated upon as a result of the shoe being raised upwardly by theoperator against the guiding plate. Since soles are usually attached toshoes only at their marginal portions, it is necessary to separatemerely the marginal portions of the sole and the shoe in ordercompletely to remove the sole. The guiding plate 2B, therefore, carriesan abutment 24 which is arranged to engage the edge surface of a soleand thus to limit the depth to which the guiding plate can be insertedbetween the sole and the shoe bottom.

A knife 26 (Fig. 2) is mounted to move with respect to the guiding means20 in a direction substantially normal to the sole edge and is carriedby a rock arm 26 which is arranged to swing on a rod 36 carried by thetwo rearwardly extending arms I8. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the knife 26is relatively thin and is received within a notch in the guiding plate20, the sides of the guiding plate and knife 26 adjacent to the solebeing bounded substantially by a common surface. It is apparent alsothat the cutting edge of the knife 26 is included in its sole engagingsurface and is formed by a bevel which extends toward the shoe upper.The cutting edge of the knife 26 is oblique with respect to thedirection of its cutting movement and tapers toward a point which isadjacent to the point of the guiding plate 20. Thus, the movementimparted to the knife results in a. cutting action which is acombination of shearing or slicing and of chopping. The relation of thebeveled surface of the illustrated knife with respect to the soleengaging surface causes the knife edge to tend to run into the solerather than into the adjacent attaching portion of the shoe upper, if itveers at all from the line of attachment therebetween, and thus insuresagainst the upper being defaced or injured during the sole removingoperation. The mechanism for imparting the above-mentioned cuttingmovement to the knife 26 includes a link 32 which is pivotally connectedby means of a rod 34 to the rock arm 28 and which is driven by a crank36. The crank is carried by a shaft 38 which is journaled in one of theuprights I4 and is operated by a drive shaft 4I), journaled in both ofthe uprights I4, by means of meshing spur gears 42 and 44 pinned on theshafts 38 and 40 respectively. The shaft 4I) in the illustrated machineis rotated by means of a crank 46, but it is apparent that, if desired,a belted pulley could be substituted for the crank if it should bedesired to use such a source of power.

A feed wheel 48 is arranged to engage the marginal portion of the treadsurface of the sole and to hold the opposite attaching surface of thesole against the guiding plate 20. To this end, a shaft 56, on the endof which the feed wheel 46 is mounted, is rotatably mounted in a carrier52 which is arranged to swing freely on the shaft 40 and to beyieldingly urged in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 1) by means of aspring 54 connected at one end to the support 52 and at the other to apin 56 inserted in the bearing for the shaft 38 in one of the uprightsI4. As plainly indicated in the drawing, the feed wheel 4B is providedwith a series of teeth the edges of which are interrupted longitudinallyand which are elements of a frusto-conical surface. The feed wheel 48 isrotated by means of a worm gear 58 which is fixed to the shaft 50 andwhich meshes with a worm 6D pinned to the drive shaft 46. Therefore, asthe drive shaft 40 is rotated, the feed wheel 46 and the knife 26 areoperated in synchronism, the feed wheel being rotated and the knifebeing oscillated back and forth in a direction substantially parallel tothe proximal'portion of the feed wheel. It is desirable to hold the feedwheel 48 some distance away from the guiding plate 2D at the beginningof the sole removing operation to facilitate the insertion of theguiding plate 20 between the sole and the attaching portion of the shoe.This is accomplished in the illustrated machine by means of a latch 62which is pivoted on a screw 64 to a control lever 66 which is integralwith the support 52. When the lever 66 is moved in a clockwise direction(Fig. l) in opposition to the spring 54, the feed wheel 48 is moved awayfrom the guiding plate 20, and under the influence of a spring 68 thelatch 62 is swung underneath the web I6, thereby preventing temporarilythe return of the lever 66 to its original position when released by theoperator.

The operation of the machine may be summarized as follows: Assuming thefeed wheel 48 to be in the position last referred to, the operatorpresents a shoe, the sole of which is to be removed, to the guidingplate 20 so that its point is at the line of attachment between the soleand the adjacent portion of the upper. He then lifts the shoe upwardlyagainst the guiding plate 26, causing the plate to be forcibly insertedbetween the sole and the adjacent attaching portion of the upper untilthe edge surface of the sole comes into contact with the abutment 24.The latch 62 is then operated to release the lever 66, allowing the feedwheel 48 to move into contact with the tread surface of the sole, and tohold the marginal portion of the sole against the guiding plate 20. Theoperator then turns the hand crank 46 which results in the feed wheel 48being rotated and the knife 26 being moved back and forth in a directionsubstantially normal to the sole edge. The feed Wheel thus cooperateswith the guiding plate to impart a feed movement to the work byengagement with the sole and also to tension, to some extent, theportion of the sole between the bite of the feed wheel and the cuttingedge of the knife. rIhis tends to cause the side of the knife adjacentto the sole to seat itself evenly against the sole and thus promotes thecutting by the knife at or adjacent to the attachment between the soleand the contiguous portion of the shoe. However, on accont of thebeveled surface of the knife being disposed as above described, thetendency of the knife to veer away from the attachment between the soleand the adjacent portion of the upper will prevent the knife fromcutting into the adjacent upper material if, in fact, the cutting edgeis not maintained strictly as desired. After a sole has thus beenremoved from the shoe, such portions of the ginal portionof the shoebottom is progressively presented thereto, said last-mentioned meanshaving surfaces which converge to form a cuttingedgathat surfaceadjacent to the shoe bottom extending at an angle to` the direction of ithe feed vmovement of the shoe.

2. In'` a machine for operating upon shoes, guiding means adapted to beinserted between a sole and a shoe bottom, and means for separating the'sole from the shoe bottom as the marginal portions thereof areprogressively presented to said means, said means having a cutting edgein a surface arranged to engage the side of the sole adjacent to theshoe bottomV and ,extending in the direction of the feed movement of theshoe. V 3. In a machine for operating upon shoes, guidingY means adaptedto be inserted between the sole and the upper of a shoe, andmeans forseparating the sole from the upper, the sole engaging portions of saidseparating means and guiding means lying substantially in a'commonsurface, said separating Ameans also having a beveled surface extendingtoward the upper of the shoe to form a cutting edge substantiallyincluded by said common surface. i

4. In a machine for operating upon shoes, guidingA means adapted to beinserted between andv to engage opposite portions of the sole and theshoe bottom, and a knife for separating the sole from the upper as themarginal portion of the shoe bottom is progressively presented to theknife a surface of the knife including its cutting edge being continuouswith the sole engaging surface of the guiding means, both of saidsurfaces being arranged toV engage the side of the sole adjacent to theshoe bottom.

5. In a machine for operating upon shoes, means for guiding `a shoeadapted to be inserted between the sole and the adjacent portion of theshoe upper, a knife for separating the sole from the shoe as themarginal portion of the shoe bottom is progressively presented to theknife, the

sole engaging surface of said guiding means being interrupted to receivethe knife whereby the` sole engaging surfaces of the knife and guidingmeans are substantially included in a common surface, the upper engagingportions of the knife being beveled to form a cutting edge lyingsubstantially in said common surface.

6. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a plate shaped and arranged toextend between the marginal portions of the sole and the adjacentportion of a shoe upper, and means associated with said plate andarranged for movement substantially normal to the sole for separatingthe sole from the shoe as the margin of the shoe bottom is progressivelypresented to the separating means, said plate having a pointed extremityextending beyond the eld of action of the separating means.

7. In a machine for operating upon shoes, guiding means shaped andarranged to penetrate between the sole and the adjacent portion of ashoe upper held thereagainst, and means for severing the attachmentbetween the sole and the adjacent portion ofthe shoe bottom having amovement substantially normal to the sole edge, said guiding meanshavinga shoe engaging abutment constructed and arranged to limit the eld-ofaction of the severing means inwardly of the shoe from its sole edge.l i

8. In a` machine for operating upon shoes, means for guiding a shoeshaped and arranged to penetrate between the sole and the adjacent por,-tion of a shoe bottom held the-reagainst, and means for progressivelyseparating the sole from the shoe bottom as successive portionsV o-f themargin of the shoe bottom are presented to the separating means,said-guiding means having a sole edge engaging surface arranged to`limit the field of action of the separating meansrelatively to the shoe.

9. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a guiding plate shaped andarranged to penetrate between a sole and the adjacent portion of a shoebottom held thereagainst, and means associated with said guiding meansfor progressively separating the margin of the sole from the adjacentportion of the shoe Vbottom as successive portions of the latter arepresented to the separating means, the guiding plate having an abutmentarranged to engage the sole edge thereby to limit the field of actionofthe separating means. i

l0. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a plate shaped and arrangedto penetrate between a sole and the adjacent marginal portionof a shoeupper held thereagainst, and means asso'- ciated with the plate forseparating the-sole and the upper having a movement in a directionsubstantially normal to the sole edge, said plate having a sole edgeengaging portion for limiting its penetration to the marginal portion of`fthe shoe bottom including the attachment between the so-le and theupper. l

ll. In a machine for operatingupon shoes,` a guiding plate havingopposed surfaces arranged to engage the marginal portion of a` sole andthe adjacent portion of a shoe bottom respectively, the former surfacehaving a recessed portion, saidV surfaces converging toward an end ofsaid plate in order to facilitate the penetration of said end betweenthe sole and theshoe bottom held thereagainst, and means received in therecessed portion of said guiding platefor progressively separating thesole from the shoe as successive portions of the shoe are presentedthereto.

12. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a guiding plate the opposedwork engaging surfaces of which are arranged to engage the marginalportion of a sole and the adjacent portion of the shoe upperrespectively, the said surfaces and the sides of the guiding plateconverging toward one end, and a knife for progressively separating thesole and the upper of the shoe as successive portions thereof arepresented to the knife, the sole engaging side of the plate beingrecessed to receive the knife whereby the sole engaging side of theknife and the plate are included in a common surface.

13. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a guiding plate shaped andarranged to penetrate between the sole and the adjacent portion of theupper of a shoe held thereagainst, and a knife for separating the soleand the upper, the sole engaging surfaces of the plate and knife beingincluded in a common surface and a portion of the plate being arrangedto overlap the upper engaging side of the knife.

14. In a machine for operating upon shoes,

guiding means shaped and arranged to penetrate between the sole and theadjacent portion of the upper of a shoe held thereagainst, means forsevering the marginal portion of the sole from the adjacent portion ofthe shoe bottom, and means cooperating with said guiding meansyieldingly to grip the sole and impart a feed movement to the shoe.

15. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a fixed guide shaped andarranged to penetrate between the marginal portion of the sole and theadjacent portion of the upper of a shoe held thereagainst, means forsevering the sole from the adjacent portion of the upper, and meansmounted yieldingly to hold the attaching surface of the sole against theguide land to impart a feed movement to the shoe,

16. In a machine for operating upon shoes, guiding means adapted to beinserted between the sole and the adjacent portion of the upper of ashoe, means for severing the sole from the shoe, feeding, means mountedto swing toward and away from said guiding means, and yielding means forcausing said feeding means to urge the marginal portion of the soleagainst vsaid guiding means.

17. In a machine for operating upon shoes, guiding mea-ns adapted to beinserted between a sole and the adjacent marginal portion of a shoeupper, means cooperating with said guiding means and arranged to engagethe marginal portion of the tread surface of the sole to impart a feedmovement to the shoe, and means for separating the sole from the upperhaving a cutting edge lying in a surface extending in the direction offeed movement and including the sole engaging surface of the guidingmeans.

18. In a machine for operating upon shoes, guiding means adapted to beinserted between a sole and the adjacent portion of a shoe bottom, meanscooperating with said guiding means for imparting a feed movement to theshoe, and means for progressively severing the sole from the shoe havinga cutting edge included in a surface arranged to engage the sole and toextend in the direction of feed,

19. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a guiding plate having apointed extremity arranged to penetrate between the marginal portions ofthe sole and the adjacent portion of the bottom of a Vshoe heldthereagainst, a feed wheel cooperating with said guiding plate to.impart a feed movement to the shoe, and a knife for severing the solefrom the shoe, the cutting edge of the knife lying in a surfaceextendingin the direction of feed and including the sole engaging side of theknife.

20. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a guidingl plate shaped andarranged to penetrate between the marginal portion of a sole and theadjacent portion of the bottom of a shoe held thereagainst, a rotatingfeed wheel arranged to cooperate with said guiding plate to impart afeed movement to the shoe, and a knife mounted for movementsubstantially perpendicular to the direction of feed for progressivelyseparating the sole from the bottom of the shoe, the side of the knifewhich engages the shoe bottom being beveled to form a cutting edge whichis included in a surface extending in the direction of feed.

2l. In a machine for operating upon shoes, guiding means shaped andarranged to penetrate between the sole and the bottom of a shoe heldthereagainst, means for separating the marginal portion 4of the solefrom the adjacent portion of the shoe bottom, said guiding means havinga sole edge engaging abutment arranged to limit the action of theseparating means to the marginal portion of the sole and shoe bottom,and means arranged to engage the tread surface of the sole and tocooperate with said guiding means to impart a feed movement to the shoe.

22. In a machine for operating upon shoes, a guide plate having apointed end adapted to penetrate between the marginal portion of a soleand 1';

the adjacent portion of the bottom of a shoe held thereagainst, meansassociated with said plate for severing the sole from the adjacentportion of the shoe bottom, said guiding plate having a shoulderarranged to limit the penetration of said plate and severing meansbetween the sole and the shoe bottom, a feed wheel the work engagingportion of which is included in a frusto-conical surface and is arrangedto cooperate with said plate to impart a feed movement to the shoe, andmeans for operating said severing means and the feed wheel insynchronism.

AXEL A. LAWSON.

